Publishers reluctant to sell e-books to local libraries

LANCASTER -- Joseph J. Mulé says public libraries have been trying to expand their e-book collections dramatically, but publishers aren't on the same page.

Mulé, director of Thayer Memorial Library in Lancaster, said more library patrons are trying to borrow e-books but many big publishing companies won't sell them to libraries out of business concerns. And publishers that do sell e-books to libraries do so at steep prices.

"We can't meet the demand," said Mulé.

He said his library might have seven licenses for an e-book on hand when demand is in the hundreds.

He said the issue is not lack of funding or knowledge on the part of libraries but difficulties getting publishers to consider a deal.

Publishing companies HarperCollins, the Hachette Book Group, Macmillan, Penguin, Random House and Simon & Schuster are known as the "big six." Half of them won't sell e-books to libraries, although all still sell traditional books.

Random House and HarperCollins sell e-books to libraries. Macmillian will begin the practice on Friday -- but not to library consortiums.

Penguin stopped selling e-books to libraries in November 2011. The Hachette Book Group and Simon & Schuster do not sell e-books to libraries.

Thayer Memorial Library is one of 150 members of the Central/Western Massachusetts Automated Resource Sharing Inc. (C/W MARS) library consortium, which provides public libraries with access to the OverDrive e-book catalog.

"Unfortunately, we cannot meet a lot of the needs of library patrons because we cannot get the books they are looking for," said Laino.

She said a co-worker who has several degrees says she wishes she had a law degree to help her wade through the thick contracts publishers are presenting to them.

Instead of physical copies, libraries buy one or more "licenses" for different e-books. A license can be lent to one patron at a time only.

There is no consistency between publishers. Each license HarperCollins sells to libraries can be checked out 26 times before it is deleted. The price is the same as what a retail customer pays, but libraries need to buy new copies once they are used up.

Random House sells its e-book licenses indefinitely, but Laino said the price goes up about three times what a printed copy goes for, usually around $85 a pop.

She said the reason Penguin pulled out of the library e-book market is that Amazon made an update to its Kindle e-reader to allow them to access library books. Before that, its e-book licenses lasted forever and many were in the $8 range.

"That's why it was so great to have them as part of the OverDrive collection," said Laino.

Phone and email requests for comment to the Hachette Book Group, Macmillan and Penguin were not returned.

A 2012 report from the American Library Association indicates Penguin officials want to work with libraries, but publishers are concerned e-books that can be accessed for free online will hurt sales.

A statement released by the Association of American Publishers in September said "e-lending" is a new, complex problem, and that while libraries can discuss the issue together, antitrust regulations prevent the publishers from doing the same.

"I sympathize with them. Everyone's got to eat dinner and pay the rent," said Mulé. He said he's hoping for some kind of solution that would give libraries access to more e-books and allow publishers to make a profit.

Mulé and Laino said they do not think library e-books will harm the publishing industry.

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